Much like Jay Bruce, it’s rare that the Cincinnati Reds experience prolonged periods of success. That’s not to say that the Reds (and Bruce) haven’t had success, it’s just that it usually comes in small, brilliant doses. So, forgive my indulgence, but I want to appreciate this while it lasts.

It all started on Saturday, May 19. The day before–my 10th wedding anniversary–the Yankees had just shutout the Reds. That was so not cool of them. Since then, the Reds have won 8 of 9–putting them 7 games over .500 and 1.5 games ahead of the Cardinals. During that same stretch the Cubs have lost every single game (including four additional loses going back to May 15). I’m not saying that just to rub salt in the Cubs’ wounds*, I’m using it as a way to illustrate how strange the game of baseball can be.

*I’m totally saying that to rub salt in the Cubs’ wounds.

Did I mention the home runs? The Reds have hit a boatload of them. To be precise, they’ve hit 17 (including one by Mike Leake) since this home stand began on Monday. Is that a lot? Well, the Padres only have 18 home runs all season–so, yes–that’s a lot.

And the pitching hasn’t been half bad, either. Sure, Mat Latos gave up 5 (*gulp*) homers today, but the dude still got the win. While Cueto has struggled 2 out of his last 3 starts (“I’m not a robot,” he claims… I don’t believe him), I’m not concerned about him. Why? Because slowly but surely Homer Bailey and Mike Leake appear to be turning the corner–the corner towards Happy Town, not Sucksville–so I think the starting rotation will be just fine. Until it’s not.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s fun being a Reds fan right now.

Remember all those years in the ’90′s when you used to beat-up on the Reds? And that time you knocked the Reds out of the playoffs in 1995? What about that time when you scored 7 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win the game? With a grand slam, of all things. And don’t forget, we have you to thank for John Rocker.

Well, we haven’t forgetten.

Hope you enjoyed your stay in Cincinnati.

Love,
The Cincinnati Reds

You probably know that Latos came to us in the offseason via a trade with the San Diego Padres. Most Reds fans know this because they’re constantly checking the Padres box scores to see how Edinson Volquez and Yonder Alonso are doing so they can use that as fodder when complaining about that trade.

Well, during his time with the Padres, Latos had a passionate following of fans—including the fine folks at Friarhood.com.

Earlier this season I was contacted by Steve Adler, a San Diego-based sports talk show host and founder of Friarhood.

Not this Steve Adler. Pity.

Anyway, during Latos’ tenure with the Padres, Steve coined the term TEAM LATOS and a San Diego phenomenon was born. Steve even printed up a bunch of TEAM LATOS shirts in Padres-blue. I mean, what could possibly go wrong when you order a bunch of player-specific/team-specific shirts?

Well, we know what went wrong. In addition to having a bunch of Padres-blue TEAM LATOS shirts lying around, Steve decided to add to his inventory by making a Cincinnati Reds version of the shirt and sell them on his site.

As a way to support the TEAM LATOS movement, I’ll be running a contest in June and Friarhood will supply one of these red TEAM LATOS shirts to the winner.

Pretty good deal, huh? All you have to do is guess the number of strikeouts Latos will have in the month of June. This includes every start he makes between—and including—June 1 and June 30. The person closest to the actual total number of strikeouts wins the shirt. In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen with a to-be-determined tiebreaker for Latos’ first start in July.

So, instead of attacking Mat’s wife on Twitter, do something productive with your time and make a completely random guess for how many strikeouts Mat will have in June.

All you have to do is send me an e-mail with your guess by June 1. Entries received on or after June 1 won’t count. The winner will be contacted on July 1 (or whenever I get around to it).

Thanks again to Steve Adler at Friarhood for spearheading the idea.

(Nick Laham/Getty Images)

There’s no shame in being shutout by a guy who was pitching in only his second game since the 2010 postseason. There’s no shame in being held to 4 hits in 8.0 innings by a guy who hadn’t won a game since July 2010. There’s no shame in striking out 9 times against a guy who’s spent the better part of the last two weeks being the star prosecution witnesses for Roger Clemens’ high-profile perjury trial.

No shame at all, right?

On second thought…

Congratulations to Todd Frazier who had to wait an agonizing 57 games before having the first multi-homer game of his career. Good for him. Something tells me that Scott Rolen is now wondering if the starting 3B spot is still his when he comes off the DL. Then again, Dusty Baker’s name has never been mentioned in the same sentence as “sensible lineup,” so I’m sure we’ll see Frazier on the bench soon.

Do you want to see something impressive?

Do you want to see something really impressive?

And that was before Chapman struck out two of the three batters he faced in the 8th inning.

That is all.

(Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Not to get all mathlete on you, but let’s take a look at some numbers:

• 26–the number of runs Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo, Aroldis Chapman, Logan Ondrusek, J.J. Hoover and Sean Marshall have given up this season… combined
• 25–the number of runs Mike Leake has given up this season
• 24–the number of cans of chili that arrived at my home today (photo below)… thanks to the fine people at Skyline Chili, who were showing their appreciation for my monthly grading system
• 16–the number of games the Reds have won this season
• 5–the number of wins the Reds have against teams with winning records this season
• 4–the number of wins Johnny Cueto has so far this season
• 3–the number of wins Aroldis Chapman has so far this season
• 0–the number of wins Mike Leake has after 6 starts

And if you’ve ever wondered what a Chris Sabo bobblehead looks like standing in front of a bunch of cans of Skyline Chili–wonder no more:

Yes, he’s only blown one save in six opportunities so far this season, but he has a 4.35 ERA and gets rattled very easily. Say what you will about Francisco Cordero (and believe me, I have), but most (most…) of the times when Cordero backed himself into a corner, he got out of it. With Marshall, it seems that as soon as something goes wrong, it snowballs into something worse. Something he can’t get out of.

So, what do the Reds do? They don’t exactly have a ton of in-house options to take over the role. Do you give Logan Ondrusek a chance? He’s doing a damn good job in the role he’s in now–do you really want to mess with that? What about Chapman? If you put Chapman in the closer role you’re essentially resigning to the fact that he’s never going to be part of the starting rotation.

I’m not sure that it’s time to give up on Marshall just yet, but Dusty Baker’s trigger finger better be getting a whole lot itchier.

Gross.

(AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Jay Bruce hit a homer at Miller Park tonight that went an estimated 460-feet. A Brewers official said that if the outfield windows had been open the ball would’ve left the stadium. I said that if the windows had been open the ball would’ve left the stadium and hit a car in the parking lot, causing it to explode.

The best part about all of this: Bruce didn’t need a “special delivery” from the FedEx guy to hit it that far.

A day after Mat Latos struck out 11 Pittsburgh Pirates, Bronson Arroyo decided to strike out 9 Milwaukee Brewers. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s 20 strikeouts by two Reds starting pitchers in the last two games (and that doesn’t include the 8 additional strikeouts the bullpen contributed).

If you’ve been wondering what this 2012 team is capable of when they get good pitching and good hitting–in the same game–now you know.

And knowing is half the battle. Yo, Joe!

The Reds put up a measly 3 hits against Jeff Samardzija on Wednesday. I really don’t know how teams haven’t figured this guy out yet, but I’ll give credit where credit is due—he’s pitched well so far. Thursday was another display of futility by the Reds as they entered the 9th with only 3 hits. That’s a grand total of 6 hits (and 1 run) in 17 innings.

Then the Carlos Marmol Experience took the mound and quickly walked everyone except the guy who sells those lemon freeze things. In other words, the Reds were fortunate to win that game. All that victory does is cover up the fact that the Reds were completely hopeless against the Cubs–a team they have no business looking hopeless against if they’re trying to convince us that they’re going to be a contender this year. It also covers up the fact that Homer Bailey gave up 3 homers to a team that came into the game with only 9 homers TOTAL.

2/3 of this home-stand was supposed to be easy: Astros, Cubs… come on! It doesn’t get much easier than that.

If the Reds struggle against the Pirates this weekend, it’s officially time to start questioning what’s going on.